Parenthetical Insertion by Ezra

I recommend completely crossing out the first three shaded boxes of commentary for today's reading. The first half of today's reading, Ezra 4:6-23, is actually a parenthetical insertion by Ezra--in other words a short tangent. The Daily Bible editor doesn't see this, so he takes you in another direction where kings of an earlier era in Persia have nicknames of kings of a later era.

But take a look. We left off at Ezra 4:5 where Ezra talks about enemies trying to discourage the plans to build the temple foundation during the reign of Cyrus. Ezra, who actually lived during the reigns of later Persian kings Xerxes and Artaxerxes, in 4:6-23 then says, "By the way, speaking of persecutions while trying to rebuild, later would come another example." You can tell this isn't the same account because under Xerxes and Artaxerxes the disruption is to the rebuilding of the walls and foundation of the city, not the temple. In addition, the names of the troublemakers are different. Ezra 4:24 then brings to a close the parenthetical insertion, returning you to where things left off in 4:5: "Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia" (not Darius the Mede, by the way). So in other words, "Therefore, due to this kind of persecution of those building the temple, as I talked about, things came to a standstill."